From the Mind of a Lower Level Hero
by Bobicus Maximus
Summary: What goes on in the mind of a Hero in Paragon city when he feels overshadowed by the more powerful heroes flying around. Read as he recaps his origins and comes to terms with his growing role as a hero.First time posting a story, please don't be too harsh


This is my first fanfiction that I've posted here, so please, don't flame me in the reviews. You can tell me if it's not all that great, but tell me why. I do hope you enjoy it though.

Disclaimer: I don't own City of Heroes. Well I do, but only the game. I don't own the rights to all of it.

Here I am in the City of Heroes, and I can't seem to be heroic. I know that sounds strange, but when you look at all the other heroes zooming past you, you can't help but feel inadequate. That's every beginning heroes goal when you fill out your registration form and get your Hero License, to someday evolve to where you have a travel power. Even some of the natural heroes have them, I guess they either find some gadget or all the exposed to the stranger things in this city might begin to affect your DNA. But me, I don't have one yet, and that's not the only problem. All I seem to be doing is fighting a few guys here and there, maybe some of those Hellions, or possibly a skull or two if they wander into Atlas Plaza with a death wish. All the bigger heroes deal with the world ending catastrophes. I just get clean up duty. The only way I get to see any of that stuff is if someone in my supergroup feels like they need an extra hand so the pick me out to be a side-kick. Side-kicking is for teenager heroes, not a full-grown man.

If your wondering who I am, my name is Shaolin Bob. A few years back I was just hanging out with my friends when some deranged jerks started hitting on some girls I knew. This wouldn't have been a problem if they knew when to quit, but they had bad case of an inflated ego, so they weren't going to take no for an answer. That's when I decided to step in. At the time I was a black belt at my teacher's shaolin dojo, so I thought I might play that up and intimidate them through what they had seen in the movies about martial artists. Well, all didn't go as planned. These guys just happened to have had guns, and began to threaten me, the girls and the rest of my friends. At that point I guess is when I decided to play a hero; this was not one of my better plans. I quickly front kicked the nearest one in the groin. I thought at the time I heard something break in the guy when I did it. His friends on the other hand weren't so pleased. They turned around and shot me 15 times in the chest. That's when I collapsed. But then something strange happened. I saw death. She was kind of cute in a Neil Gaiman _Sandman_ sort of way, but she said that I wasn't about to die just yet, that the doctors would save me, but that those girls I was trying to protect would get raped and then killed one the degenerates were done with them. So I begged Death to not let that happen.

"Ok, but remember, this comes with a price." She said, I think she was trying to be mysterious about it, but I knew what was going to happen. I was going to die, and they would live, seemed like a fair trade to me. A morbid two for one special, if you will. So Death let me get back up, and made it so I wouldn't feel the obvious pain that all the wounds caused me. From there everything becomes somewhat of a bloody blur. I remember a few of the hits I made, they were actually quite impressive. Some of the hardest hits I ever threw; I may have broken someone's jaw, but that memory has always been hazy. Anyway once I beat the last one, I fell over dead. Not mostly dead, just dead. The only thing that could be done to me was to search my pockets for loose change, and there was Death again.

"That was very brave of you what you did for those girls, stupid, but brave. But I guess those things go hand in hand. You do realize that you threw your life away. These girls won't appreciate it, and they won't really learn much from it. All in all you really just wasted it all for them." I just stayed silent. What could you say to that? Especially when it's Death telling you, being what she is kind of makes her opinion about wasted lives count. But somewhere deep down, I didn't care. I mean people were saved, if only for the moment. I made an effort, some good was bound to come out of it wasn't it? Death just shook her head at me, almost knowingly and began to speak again, "Well, come on, you've got some one who wants to speak with you, and their not the kind of person you keep waiting." Instantly I was in a big void, black, empty, cold, seemingly alone. Then I heard a voice. I didn't know who it was, but they said I had done well, and it was time to start the next part of my journey.

The next thing I knew I was in a hospital, without a scratch on me. Something was weird, I felt different. And I had no idea as to why I was unharmed. The doctors said it was a miracle. They mentioned something about wounds sealing up immediately. Even when they took blood for test, the small opening sealed up instantly. I saw Death still in the corner of the room. She was mouthing something like; "Try it out" so I just ripped the IV out. This hurt like Hell, and it was very messy, but the blood stopped flowing and I noticed that I had already healed from it. The doctors didn't know what to make of it. It was then I began to understand that I was brought back to life to do some good in the world, and that I would pay the price Death spoke of possibly later, or maybe I already had by giving up whatever I could have gotten if I hadn't gotten killed.. But things were different now, and I knew I had to start learning everything I could to become a better fighter to continue what I did that night, save people.

You know what I just realized? Looking back on how I was then, I was a real hero then, just doing what little I could without getting any recognition, and isn't that what being a hero is all about? I think I need to get back into that mindset and let whatever new powers or new tricks I pick up come when they will. I think I can do a lot of good for the average man on the street. In fact, I'm going to go see if there are any trollz or outcasts causing trouble in the Hollows. Maybe I'll talk to you later and tell you how things have gotten since now. Later.


End file.
